End carton filler



Dec. 1, 1959 McGlHON END CARTON FILLER 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 3,1957 I N VEN TOR. LEONARD M GIHQN ,L'ATTORNE r Dec. 1, 1959 Filed Jan.5, 1957 L. MCGIHON 7 2,914,899

END CARTON FILLER 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. LEONARD M G/HON 41% 16-ATTORNE s Dec. 1, 1959 L. M GIHON 2,914,899

END CARTON FILLER Filed Jan. 3, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 32. & j 22 3 32d 0Q6 13a 13b v y I II n H 32c 25c 24b INVENTOR.

LEONARD M- GIHON Dec. 1, 1959 McGlHON 2,914,899

END CARTON FILLER Filed Jan. 3, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. LEONARDM GIHON L'ATTORNEVS Dec. 1, 1959 1.. MCGIHON 2,914,899

END CARTON FILLER Filed Jan. 3, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 4loL INVENTOR. LEONARD M G/HON 44 A 7 TORNEYS United States Patent END CARTON FILLERLeonard McGihon, San Leandro, Calif., assignor, by mesne assignments, toKiug-O-Matic Equipment Corp, San Francisco, Calif., a corporation ofCalifornia Application January 3, 1957, Serial No. 632,379

8 Claims. (Cl. 53-160) This invention relates to an apparatus forfillingcartons with a plurality of containers.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved carton fillingapparatus in which diiferent numbers of containers are inserted intoopposite open sides of the carton while the carton-and containers aremoved along by a conveying system.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved cartonfilling apparatus in which the containers to be placed into the cartonare divided into alternate groups of different numbers of containerssuch that two of the groups are suflicient to fill the carton.

Still-another object of this invention is to provide an improved cartonfilling apparatus in which the carton is filled through the narrow opensides which are wide enough to permit a group of-containers to beshifted into tainers must be shifted laterally into the carton to movethe first group to the central part of the carton so that this centrallydisposed group is flanked on the sides thereof by similar groups ofcontainers.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved cartonfilling apparatus for filling a carton through the narrow open sideswhich are wide enough to receive two containers simultaneously, saidapparatus 'having means for laterally shifting two of the containersinto one side of the carton and for laterally shifting two groups eachof two containers into the carton from the other side.

Other and further objects of this invention will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art to which it relates from the following specification,claims and drawing:

- In accordance with this invention there is provided an improved cartonfilling apparatus in which a plurality of containers are placed into thecarton through the open sides thereof. For this purpose the carton isplaced upon a moving conveyer and it is moved along between a pair ofsingle file container conveying means. Each of the container conveyingmeans is equipped with container segregating devices which are in theform of rotatable disc members. These disc members are arranged so thatthey alternately segregate the containers into groups of two and fourcontainers. The container segregating devices are operated in timedrelation so that the device on one side of an open carton segregates agroup of two containers while the device on the other side segregates agroup of four containers. Accordingly, a group of two containers will beplaced into the carton from one side thereof and a group of fourcontainers is placed into the carton from the other side thereof, thusfilling the carton with six containers. The next open carton that ispresented to the device is supplied with a group of four containers fromthe first device and a group oftwo conthe carton laterally and in whichanother group of containers from the second device. The segregatingdevices 2,914,899 Patented Dec. 1, 1959 2 the following specification,claims and drawing in which briefly:

Figs. 1a and 1b together form a plan view of an embodiment of thisinvention;

Figs. 2a and 2b together form a side view of an embodiment of thisinvention.

Fig. 3 is a detail plan view of the apparatus showing the segregation ofthe containers in the pair of single files of containers into groupswhich are shifted into the open sides of the cartons being filledtherewith;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 55 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6--6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a detail view of a container guiding member employed inaccordance with this invention; and

Fig. 8 is a view of one of the cartons.

The apparatus of this invention which is of the type illustrated anddescribed in my co-pending application, Serial No. 485,943, filedFebruary 3, 1955, to which the modified form of carton filling apparatusforming the subject matter of the present invention has been applied, isillustrated generally in Figures la, lb, 2a and 2b. in which Figures 1aand lb are plan views and Figures 2a and 2b are side views. 1

In general this machine comprises a carton feed station 10 (Figures laand 2a) which is adapted to receive a stack of folded cartons, andinject these cartons one 7 by one to a carton erecting mechanism 11which is the next mechanism in the line of operation. From the cartonerecting mechanism 11, the erected cartons are fed between can feedstations 12. These can feed stations supply single files of cans to thesegregating devices 13 which divide the cans into groups and thesegroups are supplied to station 14 where the cans are shifted laterallyinto the open sides of the carton. The carton with the cans therein isthen carried past station 15 wherein the cans are pushed all the wayinto the carton and thereafter the carton is carried past a carton flapclosing station 16, which performs a preliminary folding of the sideflaps to prepare them for the subsequent tucking operation. The cartonsare next fed to a flap tucking station 16a where the tucking of thefiaps completes the' cartonclosing operation. a l

These various mechanisms will be described in sequence following thedescription of the frame and the drive mechanism. 1

Frame and drive mechanism rality of legs 18 along their length. The sidemembers of the frame are connected together by cross members that areprovided with a raised central pad portion on which the longitudinaltrack member or plate 19 is secured. v

The drive forthe machine includes a motor 20 shown in Fig. 2b, that isconnected by a suitable chain and sprocket mechanism 21 with atransverse shaft 22 suitably journaled in housing members 23 attached tothe respective side members of the frame. The shaft 22 is connected bysuitable chain and sprocket mechanism, such as shown in my co-pendingapplication, Serial No. 485,493, with a drive shaft carrying suitablesprockets thereon to drive the two main conveyer chains 24 for a purposelater described. The shaft 22 is also connected at either side oftheframe by a set of bevel gearing positioned in the housings 23 withlongitudinal shafting 25 which extends through the flap tuckingmechanism, the flap folding mechanism, and the can feeding mechanismpreviously mentioned.

3 Carton feed mechanism The carton feed mechanism includes a platform 26carried by an auxiliary frame member 27 that is attached to the mainside frame members. This platform is provided for the purpose ofsupporting a stack of collapsed cartons that are positioned so that thelowermost carton of the stack may be engaged by the feed slide 28 whichis of conventional construction and which is connected to be driven bythe sprocket 29d of the chain and sprocket drive 29. The sprocket 29a isdriven by the chain 2% from a sprocket that is mounted on the shaft 29of the carton erecting mechanism 11, which is described in detail in theaforesaid application, Serial No. 485,943. The mechanism 11 alsoincludes a shaft 29c which is provided with suitable sprockets forengaging the conveyer chain of the carton erecting mechanism and alsothe chains 24.

The slide 28 once for each revolution of the sprocket 29d will move thelowermost carton from the stack in the carton feed station and bringthis carton into engagement with a set of ejecting or draw out rubberrolls 10a. These rubber rolls 10a are carried by suitable shafts andthey are arranged in opposed pairs so as to grip a carton therebetweenand move it rapidly from underneath the stack once the carton feed isinitiated by the feed plate 28. The shafts carrying the lower sets ofrolls are driven from the sprocket 29e as shown in Fig. 2a.

A carton ejected by the rollers 10a is fed between a pair of side rails11a and beneath respective inclined bars or guides 11b on the rails 11ato hold the carton down and to direct it into engagement with respectiveprogressing and erecting means of the carton erecting means (not shown).

The can feed mechanism 12 comprises generally a pair of opposite singlefile can conveyers 22 and 23 as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, which may bemounted and driven in any suitable manner, on which the cans 24b and 24care progressed in two parallel files at opposite sides of the cartonerecting mechanism 11 until they are seperated into groups andintroduced as groups into the open sides of the cartons, such as, carton30'.

At the end of each of the respective single file conveyers 22 and 23, acan segregating member or disc 13 is provided. Each disc or cansegregator 13 is carried by a shaft 47 journaled in a housing 49 asshown in Fig. 2a and these shafts 47 are driven through suitable gearmechanism from the shafting 25. Each disc 13 has four can receivingpockets or sections which are separated by can separating projections13a, 13b, 13c and 13a in the case of the upper disc 13 shown in Figs.1a, 3 and 4 and projections 13e, 13 13k and 13i in the case of the lowerdisc 13 also shown in these figures. These projections all have inclinedouter surfaces. The pockets between the projections 13a13b and 13c-13dof the upper disc 13 (Fig. 1) serve to segregate the single file of cansfrom conveyer 22 into sets of two cans each and the projectlons 132-13and 13h13i of the lower disc 13 segregate the cans from conveyer 23 intosets of two cans each. On the other hand the projections 13b-13c and13d13a of the upper disc 13 serve to segregate the single file of cansfrom the conveyer 22 into sets of four cans each and the-projections13f-13h and 13i13e of the lower disc 13 serves to segregate the singlefile of cans from the conveyer 23 into sets of four cans each.

As the discs 13 are rotated by the shafts 47 supporting these discs, theleading or forward end of each of these projections enters betweenadjacent cans fed on the single file conveyers and retards the cansfollowing the group of cans segregated. Because of the inclined canengagmg edge of each projection a slow progressing action of thefollowing file of cans continues, so that no abrupt stopping andstarting thereof is involved. It is therefor seen that the similar cansegregating discs 13 operate similarly on the two files of cans so thateach disc alternately segregates groups of two and four cans whichtravel over platforms 22a and 23a in timed relation such that a group oftwo containers 24a is segregated by the upper disc 13 while the lowerdisc 13 segregates a group of four containers 24d and vice versa, asshown in Figs. 3 and 4. These containers are then moved along by theprogressing fingers 31 projecting out at either side of the cartonconveyer chains 24. The cans separated and conveyed by the discs 13 arecarried out over the platforms 22a and 23a and they are attracted to theside members 22b and 23b by permanent magnets 22c and 23c attached tothese members 22b and 231), respectively, as shown in Fig. 7. Thesemembers 22b and 23b are supported by the bolts 32b and 32c at theforward ends of the guide rails 32 and 32a, respectively. The rails 32and 32a are pivotally supported by the bolts 32b and 32c, respectively,and each of these rails are spring urged inwardly by the springs 32d.These yieldable rails serve to introduce the upright cans sidewise intothe open sides of the carton 30, and if a jam should occur, outwardmovement of the rail involved in the jam will open a limit switch 321;which controls the power circuit of motor 20.

The groups of cans are propelled by projections on the discs 13 and 13aas described above and by the fingers 31 and 31a along a convergingcourse leading to the cartons 30 carried by the conveyer chains 24.

The operation comprising the segregation of the containers isaccompanied by another operation whereby the last two containers in agroup of four are laterally shifted into the open side of a carton. Forthis purpose there is provided a mechanism including the members 40 and40a which are pivotally supported by the pivots 41 and 41a adjacent tothe rotatable container segregating devices 13 and 13a. The members 40and 40a are pivotally positioned below the side members 22b and 23b andthey are adapted to be swung on their pivots by the rotatable members 42and 42a, which are provided with rollers 43 and 43a, that engage themembers 40 and 40a, respectively, and cause these members to swingacross the platforms 22a and 23a, respectively, for the purpose ofshifting the last two containers of a group of four into the side of anopen carton. The shifting of two such containers 24d is shown in Figure4 where the member 49a is shown swung out across the platform 32a in theact of shifting the last two containers in a group of four containers24d into the carton 30.

Each of the rotatable members 42 and 42a is mounted on a shaft as shownin Figures 5 and 6 wherein the drive for one of these members isillustrated in detail. This drive includes a pair of gear wheels 44 and48 which may be of equal size and which are supported on the swingablearm 46 in meshing relation. The gear 44 is attached to the rotatablemember 42a by the bolts 45 which engage this member in the slots 45a sothat it may be rotatably adjusted to the extent permitted by the slots45a, with respect to the gear 44. The arm 46 is rotatably supported bythe shaft 47 and this arm is provided with a spring 46a, one end ofwhich is attached to the free end of the arm, and the other end of whichis attached to the frame of the machine. This spring places tension onthe arm 46'so that this arm supports the rotatable member 42 in positionadjacent to the pivoted member 40a whereby during the course of rotationof the member 42a, the roller 43a is caused to engage a surface of thepivoted member 40 and swing this member on its pivot 41a against thetension of the spring 41b which surrounds the pivot.

In order that the rotatable member 42a may be rotated as describedabove, the apparatus is provided with a pair of gears 44 and 48 alsodescribed above. The gear 48 is arranged to mesh with the gear 49a thatis supported by the shaft 47 and is keyed thereto by the key 47a whichalso serves to key the flange member 47b to this shaft. The disc 13 isattached to the flange member 47b by means of bolts 470 thatarepositioned in slots 47d cut into this disc. In this way the disc 13may be adjusted with respect to the flange member 47b to an extentdetermined by the length of these slots. The disc 13 and the gear 49aare accordingly rotatable together by means of the shaft 47 which isdriven by the shaft 25 through a gearing arrangement that is positionedin the gear box 49. The operation of the container segregating disc 13and the container shifting member 40 is thus timed so that the last twocontainers of each group of four containers segregated by the device .13are laterally shifted by the shifting member 40 as shown in Figure 4.

In this way the last two containers of a group of four are directed intothe open side of a carton 30 by the combined action of a containerprogressing member 31 and the container shifting member 40a as shown inFig. 4. These two containers are thus directed into the open carton andas this carton is moved along by the conveyor chains 24, the progressingmembers 31 move forward and cause the first two containers of the groupof four to engage the angularly disposed rail 32a which guides these twocontainers toward the open side of the carton 30 and shifts them intothis carton when it is opposite to the free end of the angularlydisposed rail 32a. Thus all four containers of the group of four areplaced into the carton from one open side thereof and the last twocontainers so placed push the first two containers into the central partof the carton. While these last two containers are being shifted intothe carton 30 from one side thereof, the group of two containers 24a areshifted into the open carton from the other side by the angularlydisposed rail 32 which cooperates in this respect with the containerprogressing member 31 approaching this rail.

The above operation is repeated and the next open carton is also filledwith six containers; however, in this case, the group of four containersis placed into the open carton from the opposite side since this groupof four is segregated by the device 13a, and the group of two containerswhich is segregated by the device 13 is placed into the carton from theside corresponding to this latter device. Accordingly, these devices 13and 13a alternate in segregating groups of two and four containers. Thefilled cartons are then carried by the conveyer chains 24 to the nextstations which perform the functions required to position the side tabsof the carton so that they function to retain the containers in thecarton.

The cartons adapted to be employed with this apparatus may be of thetype disclosed in my co-pending application, Serial No. 402,872, filedJanuary 8, 1954, for Carton. This carton includes a top panel 50, abottom panel 51 and two end panels, such as, panel 52 and top and bottomside tabs 51a and 51b on both of the open sides thereof. This cartonwhen erected forms a substantially rectangular structure having opensides through which the containers 54 adapted to be placed therein areinserted. These containers engage side tabs such as tab 53 which istucked between the end containers and the carton end walls so as to holdthe top and bottom tabs 51a and 51b erected for holding the containersin the carton as described in detail in the aforesaid application,Serial No. 402,872.

While I have shown a preferred embodiment of the invention it will beunderstood that the invention is capable of variation and modificationfrom the form shown so that its scope should be limited only by thescope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. Carton filling apparatus comprising a conveyer for progressing anopen carton along a path, a pair of single file container conveyingmeans for supplying a single file of containers on each side of saidconveyer substantially parallel to the direction of movement of saidconveyer, a pair of rotatable container segregating devices, one of saiddevices being positioned on one side of said conveyer and cooperatingwith one of the single file container conveying means and the other ofsaid devices being positioned on the other side of said conveyer andcooperating with the other of the single file container conveying means,means for rotating said segregating devices, each of said segregatingdevices having means for segregating the single file containers intoalternate groups of equal numbers of containers with adjacent groups ofdifferent numbers to provide larger groups and smaller groups, means forlaterally guiding the smaller of said groups from one of said devicesinto one end of an open carton, means for dividing the larger of thecontainer groups from the other of said devices into two equal subgroupsand for laterally shifting one of said subgroups into the other end ofsaid last mentioned open carton and additional means for laterallyshifting the other of said subgroups into said open carton to push thefirst one of said subgroups toward the center of the open carton.

2. Carton filling apparatus as set forth in claim 1, furthercharacterized in that said rotatable container segregating devices eachcomprise a horizontal disc having container receiving recesses formed inthe circumference thereof.

3. Carton filling apparatus as set forth in claim 1, furthercharacterized in that said means for dividing the larger container groupinto subgroups comprises a pivotally supported swingable member andmeans for swinging said swingable member laterally against thecontainers of the larger container group to divide this larger groupinto subgroups.

4. Carton filling apparatus as set forth in claim 3, furthercharacterized in that said means for swinging said swingable member isprovided with means mechanically connecting it to one of the rotatablecontainer segregating devices to be operable in step therewith.

5. Carton filling apparatus as set forth in claim 3, furthercharacterized in that said conveyer includes means for urging the lastof the subgroups of containers away from the swingable member and intothe open side of a carton aligned by the conveyer with said swingablememher.

6. Carton filling apparatus as set forth in claim 2, furthercharacterized in that alternate ones of the container receiving recessesof each of the horizontal discs are shaped to receive the same number ofcontainers and said discs are arranged so that they alternatelysegregate the same number of containers whereby alternate open car-tonsprogressed by said conveyer are filled with the same number ofcontainers from the same side.

7. Carton filling apparatus comprising a conveyer for progressing anopen carton along a path, single file container conveying means forsupplying respective single files of containers in a directionsubstantially parallel to the direction of said conveyer on either sidethereof, a pair of container segregating devices, one of said devicesbeing positioned on one side of said conveyer and the other of saiddevices being positioned on the other side of said conveyer, means foroperating said segregating devices adjacent to said single filecontainer conveying means, each of said segregating devices having meansfor segregating the single file containers into alternate groups ofequal numbers of containers with adjacent groups of different numberstoprovide larger groups and smaller groups, means for laterally guidingthe smaller of said groups from one of said devices into one end of anopen carton, means for dividing the larger of the container groups fromthe other of said devices into two subgroups and for laterally shiftingone of said subgroups into the other end of said last mentioned opencarton and into said open carton.

8. Carton filling apparatus as set forth in claim 7, furtherCharacterized in that said means for dividing the larger container groupinto subgroups comprises a member supported for movement adjacent thepath of the containers, and means for operating said member to move ittoward said containers and push one subgroup toward the canon.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSDoolittle Aug. 20, 1918 Brogden June 20, 1944 Malhiot Jan. 20, 1953Swaflford Dec. 15, 1953

